Rift
by TheInvisibleQuestion
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Jenny celebrate Christmas early so Rose can go to work, but when the sun dawns on Boxing Day and Rose hasn't returned from a field call, the Doctor suspects foul play. Third in the Pete's World series. Complete.
1. Prologue: As It Should Be

_**Author's Note:** Doctor Who is BBC Wales, obviously._

_**Cover Note:** Stock by PannaHerbatka on deviantART._

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

**23 December**

_**as it should be**_

This, the Doctor is sure, is how the world is supposed to be.

The radio plays cheery Christmas carols and Jenny dances a little while she builds a model Christmas tree out of Lego blocks. Rose wraps gifts and laughs at the Doctor, who alternates between changing the way the tree lights flash and calculating how many times Santa Claus would need to loop through Christmas night in order to reach every house. The house they've lived in for the past two months is finally starting to feel like home, and today it smells like fresh fir tree and gingerbread. It hasn't snowed yet, but it might be cold enough outside and the sky is promisingly dark. The three of them will celebrate Christmas a day early, when Rose is not on call, though Rose assures the Doctor that aliens in this universe prefer to invade the Earth on New Year's Eve.

The radio station begins a swing edition of "Jingle Bells" and the Doctor gets to his feet. He coaxes Rose up as well, and the two of them dance a quick step around the sofa. When the song ends, Jenny claps and asks the Doctor to dance with her, too. He obliges and swings her up in his arms, twirling her around the living room while "Let It Snow" plays through the house.

The doorbell rings and the Doctor and Jenny dance to answer it. They've ordered takeaway from the little Italian place around the corner because neither the Doctor nor Rose feels like cooking, and Jenny giggles because the delivery kid is wearing a Santa hat. The kid grins and gives her his best Santa laugh, making her laugh harder, and the Doctor gives the kid a few quid extra as a tip for his Christmas spirit.

After dinner, they let Jenny open one gift before bed. The gift they give her is a set of flannel pyjamas that look like they were cut out of the night sky. Jenny squeals and flings herself first on the Doctor and then on Rose.

"Can I wear them right now?" she asks quickly, as if she can't get the words out fast enough to express her excitement.

Rose laughs. She took the tags off before she wrapped it, knowing this would be exactly Jenny's reaction. "Of course. That's what they're for."

Jenny squeals excitedly and sprints into the downstairs bathroom to change.

"I bet she won't take those off all day tomorrow," the Doctor comments.

"I never did," Rose tells him. "My mum bought me Christmas jims one year and I loved them so much I wore them for two and a half days."

"Maybe I shouldn't give you your present till tomorrow, then," he mutters.

Rose opens her mouth to make a comeback, but Jenny skips back into the room and crawls up on the Doctor's lap.

"Are we going to leave biscuits for Santa?" she asks him. "Tony said he's leaving biscuits for Santa."

"We can leave some if you like." Rose and the Doctor are both well aware that Tony Tyler has educated Jenny in all of his favourite parts of the holiday, namely, Christmas trees and Santa Claus.

Jenny picks out some chocolate biscuits and puts them out on a plate on the coffee table. When she's done, she asks if it's time for bed yet.

"We can do bedtime now," Rose tells her, "but you'll still have to wait until seven tomorrow to wake us up."

"I know," Jenny says. "But Tony says Santa won't come if all the children aren't asleep, and all the _other_ kids have to go to bed."

The Doctor carries Jenny upstairs and Rose follows, picking Jenny's usual bedtime books out of her bookshelf. Rose sits on the edge of Jenny's bed and Jenny snuggles under her dark blue comforter. "Ready?" Rose asks as the Doctor pulls up the chair from Jenny's desk.

Jenny nods and Rose opens up Dr. Seuss's _Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!_. Jenny stops her after the first page and asks if they can just read _Goodnight Moon_. Rose accedes, deferring to Jenny's Christmas excitement. At the end, Jenny recites the last bit with Rose.

"Good night stars. Good night air. Good night noises everywhere." The Doctor and Rose leave as silently as they can manage, just as they always do. By the time they get to the bottom of the stairs, they know Jenny is already asleep.

Rose links her hand in his and kisses him. His fingers tangle in her hair, but she pushes him away before he gets too intense. "Come on, Santa. All the little children are asleep."

"I can put the presents out before she comes downstairs. She knows the rules."

"You don't want any help from your favourite elf?" Rose teases.

"The only elf I know is asleep upstairs."

"What am I, then? A reindeer?"

"Of course not!" His brown eyes twinkle, reflecting the lights of the Christmas tree like stars, and Rose can see the ancient Time Lord within the eager young human. "You'd look terrible in antlers. Besides, I always thought you looked much more like the missus to my Claus."

Rose laughs. "Nine more days," she says—not that either of them need the reminder. They've been officially engaged for just over a month and have planned a small but elegant wedding for the first day of the new year, all at Jackie's insistence. She wanted something big and extravagant, but Rose and the Doctor talked her into just a small affair, since they agreed to refrain from just going to the registrar and doing the paperwork. Even the engagement is a result of Jackie's hounding, and while the Doctor's "proposal" was the standard one-knee procedure, there's no engagement ring.

"I'm looking forward to it," he says with a hint of sarcasm. "A party in our honour by Jackie Tyler? I can't wait."

"Mm, and then five days in the Scottish countryside without your daughter."

"What will we do without her?"

"Well, you'll call my mum twice a day at least to make sure Jenny hasn't driven her spare, and in between, I'll do my best to distract you."

"Distract me?" he asks, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him.

Rose gives him her cheekiest grin. "No sneaking peeks, Doctor. It's not Christmas yet, and Santa hasn't stopped by."

"Oh, right. Santa. Almost forgot about him." The Doctor takes a Santa hat that's stashed on the top shelf of the book case behind a couple of dictionaries and puts it on. "Santa's here now. First order of business is the biscuits here. Santa needs fuel to carry all the presents." He only eats two of the chocolate biscuits and leaves the rest. When Rose gives him a questioning look, he answers, "You don't honestly think Santa eats all those biscuits, do you? He takes most of them home for Mrs. Claus."

Rose laughs and eats a couple herself before they carry out the gifts and pile them under and, thanks to some clever jiggery-pokery on the Doctor's part, in between the branches of the tree. They step back when they're done and Rose says, "Looks like Santa's been here."

It's almost midnight now—the present-stacking took longer than expected—and Rose yawns, the Doctor's cue to shut off the tree lights and go with her into the bathroom to do their nightly his-and-hers dance before they curl up in bed together and drop off to sleep.

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><p><em><strong>AN**: A bit short, I know, but I'm going to try to post a chapter a day until the story is finished (if you'll notice the date of this story and today's date... wink-wink). Hugs and thanks and cookies and milk chocolate frogs to my beta and bestie, EnoughToTemptMe._

_Additionally, this is a working title. Better title suggestions would be much appreciated (even as the story progresses)._


	2. Chapter 1: Pink and Yellow

**24 December**

_**pink and yellow**_

"Rooooose!" Jenny sings, poking Rose's face. "It's six fifty-eight in the morning and Daddy says I can jump on you if you don't get up by seven!"

Rose rolls over and buries her face in the pillow. "One more minute," she mumbles. Jenny bounces on her heels next to the bed.

"Come on, Rose. It's Christmas!"

Rose groans with the effort of getting out of bed, but she doesn't have to put much effort into making it into the living room as Jenny drags her along by a hand. Rose collapses onto the sofa with a yawn.

"Merry Christmas," the Doctor murmurs from behind her. "I called the bakery for some breakfast pastries, but you'll have to make do with this for now." He hands her a steaming cup of tea and a biscuit and comes to sit next to her, stretching one arm out on the back of the couch behind her.

Jenny's excitement is too intense for Rose to drag out the waiting any longer. "Well, get on with it," Rose says. Jenny picks up a blue package from underneath the tree and hands it to the Doctor.

"For me?" he asks, as if he can't believe he's actually getting presents for Christmas.

Jenny nods. "It's from me." She puffs out her chest proudly.

The Doctor opens it carefully, taking special pains to keep the paper intact. Inside is a plain cardboard box, and Jenny has to urge him to open the box and see what's inside. He reaches into the box and pulls out a long chain of what appear to be tiny stars made from foil paper. "Where did you find this?"

Jenny giggles. "I made it!"

"You _made_ this? Did you know about this, Rose?"

Rose shakes her head. She's studying the paper stars intently. "Jenny asked to go to the craft shop a couple of weeks ago and get some craft things, but I haven't seen or heard of it since. This is… amazing." Rose looks away from the string of stars to congratulate Jenny, but the girl is standing at Rose's knees, holding out another box. "Me too?"

Jenny nods eagerly.

Rose tears the paper off and opens the box. It's a sun made from gold foil, complete with sun spots and a bit of fishing line to hang it by. "It's beautiful, Jenny. I love it!"

Jenny takes it from her and pushes one of the sun spots. The sphere swings open on an inside hinge, and the two halves of the sun become photo frames. One side is a picture of Rose and the Doctor, and the other, a photo of the three of them together.

"That is... fantastic," Rose concludes.

Jenny grins. "I made it myself. Aren't I a clever girl?"

Rose looks at the little girl, all sunbeams and starlight in her space-print jimjams, grinning away. "You are the cleverest girl I know. And do you know what else?"

"What?"

"There's still presents under the tree."

Jenny squeaks and darts back to the tree. She picks up a red present with white stripes and holds it up. "Who is this one for?"

The Doctor laughs. "You tell me."

Jenny turns it over, looking for the name. When she finds it, she gives him a wild-and-crazy grin. "Me! Is it from you?"

The Doctor nods, smiling. "Most of them are; I don't think we addressed any of them."

Jenny sits on the floor and unwraps the gift. It's a set of books she marvelled over in the bookstore a few weeks ago. She squeals and wants to open the books and read them right now, but the Doctor reminds her that the tree is still full of presents, and she picks another one.

Most of the things Jenny gets are either things she can wear, things she can build and create with, or things she can learn from. Rose also got her a small stuffed kitten to go with the stuffed cat Jenny is so fond of, and the Doctor rounded up the complete _Star Wars_ collection for her.

There's only one present left, wrapped in silver paper with shiny red ribbon, but it's too high up in the tree for anyone but the Doctor to reach. He takes it down and puts it in Jenny's hands, whispering in the girl's ear. Jenny grins and hands it to Rose.

It has no writing anywhere on it, but it's pretty obvious who it's from. It's thick and fairly small, and Rose guesses she's just feeling the box. She unties the ribbon and delicately pops the tape, sliding the contents of the package out of the paper.

It's a book, bound in brown with cream-coloured paper. It has no title or author on the cover or the spine, only an intricate, asymmetrical circular pattern that Rose guesses is Gallifreyan. The title page names it _Forever: Adventures in Time and Space_, and attributes it to a Dr. Sidrat.

"You wrote a book?" Rose asks.

The Doctor smiles. "Go on, have a look."

Rose turns the page to the dedication. _To my pink and yellow girl, for whom I would cross a thousand universes. However far away, I will always love you._ She brushed a finger across the words, then across her face, wiping away a couple of traitorous teardrops. "You wrote me a book for Christmas."

"Well… I wrote you a book. I didn't think I'd finish it so soon. There are a lot of stories in that book."

"When did you write it?"

"I've been working on it since we got here. You could say that's my life's work in your hands."

Rose laughs. "It's wonderful. Thank you. I didn't get you anything nearly as fantastic."

"You don't have to get me anything. Having you here is the best Christmas present anyone could give me." He wraps his arms around her. "Don't look now, but I think someone hung mistletoe over the sofa last night."

Rose glances up and, sure enough, there's mistletoe hanging over their heads. "Sneak!" she accuses.

"Oi, it wasn't me! Swear on my sonic screwdriver!"

Jenny sighs dramatically. "Daddy, will you just kiss Rose already? The mistletoe isn't getting any younger."

Rose laughs and the Doctor kisses her, the kind of intimate kiss they have been so careful to keep to themselves, even around Jenny. Rose returns his kiss, partly because it's mistletoe and partly because she can't help herself. Jenny makes a noise of distaste and they break apart.

Jenny wrinkles her nose. "I said kiss Rose, not eat her!"

The Doctor and Rose laugh, and Rose gets up and gathers Jenny in her arms, planting a big, sloppy kiss on her cheek. Jenny shies away, scrunching her face up and making noises.

The doorbell chimes and the Doctor jumps up to answer it. He comes back a few minutes later with a pastry box. "Anyone hungry?"

* * *

><p>They've come to the part of their Christmas day where everything is calm. It's mid-afternoon and all three of them are still in their pyjamas. Jenny is putting together an interlocking, three-dimensional puzzle, Rose sits on the couch reading the book, and the Doctor sits next to her, playing with the lights on the tree, having finished cooking dinner an hour ago.<p>

"You never told me this…" she says. "About the TARDIS being just a normal police box, back when we went to see my dad."

"It didn't seem very important at the time, given the circumstances. Afterward, I was just glad to be alive, and the TARDIS was fine. And then there was the bit with the Slitheen down in Cardiff, and then platform five again, and—"

"I get it!" Rose laughs. "You're gonna spoil the rest of the book like that."

"You already know the whole story."

"Yes, and I remember it being a bit different from this one," she teases.

Jenny looks up from her puzzle. "Rose, will you read me a story?"

"Of course. What story?"

"From the book." Jenny points to the book Rose is holding. "Daddy wouldn't let me peek when he was writing it."

"Sure." Rose opens to the first page of the book and Jenny climbs up onto the couch between Rose and the Doctor. Rose reads until her throat is dry and they're all far past hungry for dinner. Their Christmas dinner consists of a chicken the Doctor cooked after they opened presents, along with some standard side dishes like mashed potatoes and string beans. Jenny insists on having apple sauce, her favourite food of all time, and they do the Christmas poppers. Jenny's bright yellow paper crown is so big it falls over her eyes quite a few times during the course of the meal. The Doctor's blue one tears a bit when he puts it on his head, but he doesn't mind.

"It's not ruined. Besides, it's the queen and the princess whose crowns matter the most." He nods to Rose's pink crown. "I remember last time we did these."

Rose smiles. "Me too."

"Is it in the book?" Jenny asks.

"Yes, it's in the book," the Doctor says.

"Will you read it to me?"

"Well, we have to get through the other stories first, but I'll read it to you."

Jenny smiles. "I like the stories. They're real. Not like my other story books."

"Some of those are real."

"But I don't know those people. Your stories are really, really real because I _know_ you." Jenny shrugs and sticks the last bit of potatoes in her mouth, cleaning her plate. The Doctor excuses her from the table and she puts her plate in the sink and goes upstairs to brush her teeth.

"She is _so_ your daughter," Rose says.

"My daughter? Please. She's at least half you."

"She's _zero_ me, and _all_ you." They've had this debate before, first when the Doctor was doing Jenny's birth certificate and needed to list a mother, then about eight times a week after that. The last discussion was two days ago after Jenny's checkup with Dr. Montgomery.

"She was all me before she was turned into a toddler, sure, but an impressionable young child hanging around with a wonderful, strong role model of a woman? She's bound to pick up all sorts of things from you."

"That doesn't make her mine," Rose states tersely.

"Rose," he answers pleadingly. "Don't do this. Please. I've told you, she loves you as much as she loves me, maybe even more."

"I'm still not—"

"You are very much so, whether you accept it or not," he says as Jenny comes back to the table.

Rose forces a smile for Jenny's sake and doesn't say anything further on the subject. "What do you need?"

"I'm going up to my room for a while. Can you come up and tuck me in at bedtime?"

"Of course. It'll be about an hour and a half."

"Thank you." Jenny runs off upstairs, leaving the Doctor and Rose to clear up. They put away the leftovers and then he washes and she dries the dinner dishes, all in tense silence. Rose goes into the living room to pick up the wrapping paper that's all over the floor while the Doctor puts the dishes back in the cupboards.

He comes in as she clears up the last of it, and she goes to stand in front of him. "She'll be yours in a week and a half. Unless you don't want to…"

"I just don't want her hurt. She's a Time Lord—Time Lady, whatever. She's going to outlive me. You probably will, too, being part Time Lord. And my job's not the safest one around. What happens if I don't come back?"

"You will. I'll bring you back myself if I have to."

"And what if something happens to you? I can't raise her by myself."

"One, nothing's going to happen to me. Two, you wouldn't be doing it by yourself. Three, you're the only other person I trust with her."

"Not even my mum?"

"Your mum's a fantastic babysitter, but she hasn't seen what you've seen, she hasn't been where you've been, and she certainly doesn't know Time Lords half so well as you do."

"It's just so… sudden."

"You're in your mid-twenties. I'm in my mid-nine hundreds. Three months seems much longer for you than it does for me. Besides, we can do it. We can do anything."

Rose sighs and leans her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Speaking of doing _anything_, how's the coral?"

"Right on schedule. Should be fully grown by next October."

"Just in time to escape before Christmas?" Rose teases.

"If you like. We could visit all the old haunts again, and they'll be new again."

"You can take me to all the places you never took me before."

"We can go places I've never gotten around to visiting."

"We can go _anywhere_."

"Any when."

"And I promise to follow the rules this time," she says.

"Rule number one?"

"You know, if I didn't wander off, you'd never find your way round."

"You could at least tell me where you're going."

"_You_ could have carried a mobile."

"Next time, then. We'll have some kind of communication. Probably should, what with Jenny being related to me." _And you_, he doesn't say, but Rose knows he's thinking it.

"Definitely should," Rose corrects. She glances toward the tree. "I've still got to wrap the things for my mum and Pete and Tony. Forty-five minutes, Jenny's room?"

He nods and seats himself on the couch, using his screwdriver as a remote for the tele. Rose just shakes her head and goes into the bedroom to wrap presents before she tucks Jenny in and goes to bed herself. The Doctor comes in and lays with her for a while, even though he won't go to sleep until midnight or one. He'll wake her up in time to report for desk duty in the morning, but for now, he's happy to have her sleeping peacefully next to him.

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><p><em><strong>AN**: Terribly sorry for taking so long to post this, but it's still the 24th in my time zone, so we're good, right? Anyway, kind of another fluff chapter. I promise we're getting to substance soon._

_Paper crowns and apple sauce for my beta, EnoughToTemptMe because she's awesome._

_Tomorrow's chapter may be posted late. Fair warning. If that happens, I'll do my best to make up for it with two chapters on Boxing Day._

_Title suggestions welcome. Reviews are like caffeine. They make me write faster._


	3. Chapter 2: A Day in the Life

**25 December**

_**a day in the life**_

The Doctor wakes at four in the morning as he usually does. He brushes a kiss across Rose's forehead and slips out of bed. She sighs in her sleep and turns toward his side of the bed as he walks out to the kitchen. He puts on a cup of tea for himself and starts fixing breakfast. Jenny comes out around four-thirty, looking bright and chipper.

"What's for breakfast, Daddy?"

The Doctor shrugs. "What d'you want?"

"Can you make pancakes?" she asks as she climbs up onto a barstool at the island counter.

"What kind?"

"Banana!" Jenny answers eagerly. "Can we put chocolate bits in it, too?"

"I think we can do that." He nods, separating a couple of bananas from the bunch and setting them on the island counter. "Did you have a good night?"

"Uh-huh. I finished Tony's present. Are we going to go to Tony's house today?"

The Doctor digs through the pantry for pancakes ingredients, stopping every so often to put things on the counter. "We will after Rose gets back. She's got to go in to work for a bit today."

"Even though it's Christmas?" Jenny ducks under his legs and gets a plastic cup out of one of the bottom cupboards. She fills it with water at the island sink.

He nods, spreading his arms in a 'you never know' sort of gesture. "Aliens might invade on Christmas. In the other world, the one Rose and Jackie came from, the aliens invaded nearly every Christmas."

"Did you stop them?"

"Oh, yes. That's what I do. Did," he corrects himself. "Not any more. I'm going to be a teacher now. I'm going to teach physics at a university. And do you know what the best part is?"

"What?"

He points at Jenny with a banana. "You get to go to school."

"Really?" Jenny almost spills her water with her excitement.

"Twice a week. You're going to go to a school with other kids who are very good at learning."

"Will there be kids like me?"

"They'll all be like you. Brilliant, talented young kids learning together. You'll have a lot of fun."

"No, I mean will there be kids like _me_? Kids with two hearts."

The Doctor stops in the middle of cutting up a banana. "No. There won't be any kids with two hearts."

"Why not?"

"Because they're all gone. I told you before; you and your father are the last ones." He is forcibly reminded that Jenny is not, in actuality, his daughter. Her father has two hearts just like she does, and he finds himself wishing he could send some sort of message across the gap to him, like a Christmas card saying 'hello, hope you're well, see how well we've adjusted?' He blinks, shaking the idle wish-weaving into oblivion.

"But _you're_ my father."

He shakes his head. "No. Your father lives in the other world. Remember?"

"But Rose said you're the same person."

"We were, once. Now we're not."

Jenny wrinkles her forehead, puzzled. She thinks for a few dozen seconds and asks, "Like a clone?"

"Yes. Like a clone."

"Oh. Are there other aliens with two hearts?"

"Some, like Apalapuchians and Kirithons, but I don't think you'll meet any at school."

"I want to meet someone else with two hearts," Jenny says dejectedly. "Can we go visit some of those aliens?"

"We can go anywhere you want."

"Can we go to Gallifrey?" she asks, and he sighs. She's asked him at least a hundred times, never satisfied with his answer.

"No. Gallifrey is gone." He turns on the electric mixer, and the noise drowns out any further attempt at conversation. Jenny pouts while she watches him, her chin resting on her folded arms and her bottom lip sticking out a little. He doesn't speak as he moves about the kitchen, frying pancakes, eggs, and a bit of bacon for Rose.

Breakfast is ready by five-fifteen, and though Rose won't be up until six, the Doctor and Jenny sit at the table and eat. The Doctor puts the leftovers in the oven to stay warm and sends Jenny upstairs to get dressed. When she comes back down, she asks if she can bring her building blocks down and build something on the living room floor. He agrees, reminding her to keep a clear path through the room before he heads for the shower.

Rose blinks sleepily, not awake enough yet for words, when he walks in. He detours from his route to the bathroom and kisses her temple. She smiles and stretches, playfully pushing his face away with one hand.

He laughs. "Good morning to you, too."

"Mmh." She turns over and buries her face in the pillow, leaving him to run through the shower while she sleeps a bit longer. He smiles, marvelling at how much she sleeps and how beautifully she does it. His shower takes him less than five minutes, and he wraps a towel around himself and goes into the closet to find something to wear. He hears Rose get up and get in the shower, so he dresses quickly and goes to the kitchen to put together a plate of breakfast for her.

By the time she comes out, dressed for a day on call in her black Torchwood uniform, he's got a fresh cup of tea steaming on the table next to a warm plate of breakfast. Jenny's sitting at the table for second breakfast and the Doctor brings his own cup of tea to join them.

"Morning," says the Doctor, giving her a smile.

"Morning to you, too," she replies. "And good morning to you, missy," she adds, turning her smile on Jenny.

"G'morning, Rose!"

"Did you sleep well last night?" Rose asks.

"Six hours." Jenny shrugs. Six hours is the norm for now, but they all know that by this time next year, she'll be sleeping an hour a night, tops. "It was nice. I didn't have any scary dreams."

The Doctor frowns at Jenny. "Have you been having scary dreams?"

Jenny nods slowly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't remember them when I wake up. I just know they're scary."

The Doctor looks at Jenny, then at Rose. He's about to ask Jenny further about the dreams when she changes the subject.

"Daddy says I'm going to go to school next month," Jenny tells Rose. Her expression is a comic hybrid of casual passivity and sheer glee, and the Doctor has to hide his grin behind his mug.

He and Rose have already discussed this, though Rose insisted it was his decision to make. "Are you excited?" Rose asks.

Jenny nods eagerly, a grin breaking free of the feigned indifference.

"I'm glad. I think you'll like it."

They talk about school and learning until Rose has to leave. The Doctor shoos her out the door without letting her clean up her plate, assuring her he'll clean it up and she really ought to get to work so she can finish up and come back home.

* * *

><p>The Doctor insists on going to the Tylers' in one car, despite Rose's protests that she's still on call and might have to leave at any moment, and then he won't have a car. The Doctor reminds Rose that not only does Pete have a chauffeur—a convenience Rose often forgets—but he can always dial a cab.<p>

They're greeted by Tony, who is wearing a reindeer jumper and felt antlers. "Rose!" he squeaks. "Jenny!" The sight of his sister and his best friend has left the Doctor almost unnoticed, but it's normal, and Tony rarely sees Rose now that she's not living with her parents or alone in her flat. He's surprised when Tony grabs his leg and says, "Doc'or John!"

"Hello, Tony," the Doctor replies, giving his future brother-in-law a hug. Tony hugs Rose and then he and Jenny disappear, off on some imaginary adventure. Jackie calls a greeting from the kitchen, and Rose and the Doctor follow the greeting back to its source. Pete is busy setting the table for supper, but he pauses to wish them a happy Christmas. The Doctor helps him set the places out while Rose and Jackie talk, and then both men find a seat in the family room to have a short, concise conversation. They've only just sat down when Rose comes in, mobile in hand, to get the car keys from the Doctor.

"A field call _now_?" the Doctor grumbles as he fishes out the keys and hands them over. "Don't they know it's Christmas?"

"Aliens," Rose says.

"Four people under this roof are aliens, and _we_ still know what day it is."

"I did take yesterday off," Rose reminds. "I'm really sorry, Dad."

"It's alright, love," Pete answers, dismissing further apologies. "It is what it is."

Rose kisses the Doctor briefly. "You'll be okay finding your way home?" she asks.

"Just so long as you do, too, dear," he replies, and though his tone is playful, he means every word.

"I will," she promises. She leaves, calling back to the whole house a 'happy Christmas'. They hear the door shut just as Jenny and Tony run into the room, dressed in bucket helmets and holding plastic toy laser guns. They're shooting at invisible aliens as they run and hide behind the grown-ups.

"Pew! Pew! Pew!" Tony shoots an imaginary baddie while he hides behind Jackie. "There's too many of 'em! We can't win," he tells Jenny, but she's looking around the room, frowning.

"Daddy, where is Rose?" she asks.

"She got a call," he answers. "She had to go to work. She'll be back later."

Jenny pouts, dropping her toy gun and reaching her hands up. The Doctor picks her up and she lays her head on his shoulder. "Is it a nice alien?" Jenny asks. It's a routine for the two of them, a way for them to handle the fact that, while most aliens aren't hostile, Rose still has one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

The Doctor sits on the sofa with Jenny, hardly noticing that the Tylers have gone into the dining room. "I think it's a nice alien. There are loads of nice aliens, you know."

"Do you know loads of nice aliens?"

"Oh, yes. Pick a letter." This is the transition, where he distracts her from Rose's absence by telling her about some alien species or another.

Jenny holds up her thumb and first finger. "Letter 'L'!"

"L… L… How about Letocelpa?"

"Did you go there?"

"Quite a few times. They're very kind, the Leto. Their planet is covered in forests of trees so big, they have whole villages living in a single tree."

"What are the people like?"

"They're very much like trees themselves. They're calm and they live twice as long as humans. You'd like them."

"I don't think they are the aliens Rose is talking to," Jenny mumbles into the Doctor's shirt. "I want to go home."

"We'll go home after supper and presents, okay?"

"Okay," she sighs. They go into the dining room, where Pete and Jackie and Tony have started to dish up. The Doctor sets Jenny in her chair and then goes to sit across from her.

Through the course of the meal, the Doctor notices that Jenny hasn't touched her food. He asks her why, and she tells him she's not hungry. She doesn't engage in conversation, and only gives short answers when she's asked a direct question. When they move to the family room to exchange gifts, she cheers up long enough to give out the things she made and open the presents she's given, and then she crawls up in the Doctor's lap and resumes her silent moping.

"I think it's time for us to go," the Doctor says. "Thank you for having us over. I'm sorry Rose couldn't be here."

Jackie waves him off. "It's alright. We'll just have to try again on a day Rose isn't on call."

"At least you're here for Christmas, Doctor," Pete adds. "That's the best gift any of us could have, especially Rose."

The Doctor nods. "Best gift _I_ could have," he amends. He takes his and Jenny's jackets from the coat rack in the foyer and dials a cab. Jenny stares out the window the whole way home, and as they're getting out, there's a loud _bang_ and a flash of light. Jenny clings to him, hiding her face in his shoulder.

"It's okay," he says. "It's just some of the neighbours letting off Christmas fireworks." He tips the cabbie and takes her inside. They go to the living room to wait for Rose like they always do, sprawling out on the floor together with craft supplies, keeping silent and listening for the sound of Rose's car in the driveway.

Minutes turn into hours, and Jenny switches from paper-and-glitter snowflakes to practising the Gallifreyan letters the Doctor's been teaching her. The Doctor continues to glue the scraps from Jenny's snowflake endeavour together, the craft taking the shape of a tree in his hands. He occasionally stops to wordlessly correct Jenny's lettering, but otherwise they simply wait.

Jenny starts to yawn and the Doctor looks at the clock on the wall. He's surprised that it's four in the morning already. He's more surprised that Rose hasn't returned. It's been nine hours since the call came in with no word from Rose. It's not unheard of for Rose to be in the field for so long, but she always calls as soon as she can.

The silence weighs on them now, and Jenny caps her marker. "Daddy, can we call Rose?"

"I think we should." He pulls out his mobile and dials Rose. The phone rings once and switches to her voice mail. The Doctor frowns and tries again, with the same results. He leaves a message this time, telling her to phone as soon as she can, and then calls Jake.

"Simmonds," Jake answers. He sounds like he's been sleeping.

"Jake, it's the Doctor. Did I wake you?"

"Yeah, but it's okay. Fell asleep at me desk." The Doctor hears Jake's jaw crack as he yawns.

"Your desk?"

"Yeah. Been doing paperwork all afternoon."

"You didn't go out on the call with Rose?"

"What call?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** Once upon a time this story actually got something resembling a conflict introduction! I'm now a day behind. Sorry. It's the usual Christmas and family stuff. Hopefully I'll get this finished before my wisdom teeth come out on Wednesday._

_Still searching for title suggestions. Still many cookies and hugs to my beta._


	4. Chapter 3: Into the Fire

**26 December**

_**into the fire**_

"What call?"

The Doctor nearly drops the phone.

"Doctor? What call?" Jake repeats.

"Rose got a field call around six while we were at her parents' house for dinner."

"We haven't had any field calls all day. Nothing's come in." The Doctor hears the rapid clicking of a keyboard. "She checked out at two-thirty this afternoon and hasn't logged anything since."

"Where did she go?"

More clicking. "The GPS on her mobile says she's at home with you."

"Her mobile's not on. I tried it already."

Two clicks of a mouse. "Have you checked in the house? The GPS on the car puts her at home as well."

The Doctor gets up and looks out the window. The car is not in the drive. "How is that possible? Her car isn't here. _Rose_ isn't here."

"Someone must have hacked the GPS transmitter."

"Daddy?" Jenny asks. He's almost forgotten she's still up. "Daddy, where's Rose?"

The Doctor shakes his head. "I don't know. Jake and I are trying to figure it out."

"Doctor," Jake interrupts. "I can run a few scans, but I don't know where Rose is."

"I'm coming in," the Doctor tells him. "I'm taking Jenny to the Tylers' and then I'm coming in."

"I'll go up to the Tower and start the search protocol."

The Doctor hangs up. "Go upstairs and get a change of clothes and some pyjamas."

"I don't want to go to Tony's house."

"You can go get a change of clothes and some pyjamas, or you can go without."

"I don't want to go! Where's Rose?"

"I don't know where Rose is. I have to go find her and you can't go with me."

"I don't want to go to Tony's house!"

"Jenny, you have to go over there for the night."

"I don't want to go!" Jenny shrieks. "I want to stay home and wait for Rose like we always do!"

He sighs and crouches down in front of her. "I want to stay home and wait for Rose, too, but if we stay home and wait, she might not come home. Remember how she left on a field call earlier?"

Jenny nods.

"Jake told me there wasn't a field call."

"But where is Rose?"

"I don't know. I have to go find her."

"I want to find her too!"

"No, Jenny. You have to wait for us with Jackie and Tony and Pete."

"But what if you don't come back?"

"I will come back, Jenny. I promise you I will always come back."

"Is it a nice alien?" she asks apprehensively.

The Doctor sighs. "I don't think it's a nice alien, Jenny. I think it's a mean alien."

"Why did they steal Rose?"

"What makes you think she was stolen?"

Jenny bites her lip.

He frowns. "Jenny? What makes you think she was stolen?"

"Sometimes I have scary dreams and sometimes aliens steal people and sometimes it's Rose." Jenny's pleading eyes meet the Doctor's. "But it's okay, 'cause I'm dreaming now, right?" Her voice breaks and her eyes shine with impending tears.

"Are you dreaming?"

Jenny shakes her head and tears roll down her face. "I want Rose," she sobs, throwing her arms around his neck. He holds her until her sobs calm into sniffles and she lifts her head off of his shoulder. "Can you find Rose?"

He kisses her forehead. "I will find Rose and bring her back, but you have to go to the Tylers'."

"Can I get some clothes first?"

"Yes. Quick as you can."

Jenny sprints away upstairs and the Doctor goes into his closet to change into the Torchwood uniform he hasn't turned in yet. He stows his screwdriver out of sight, but within easy reach, and walks out of the closet to the foyer. He stops by the bed; the covers are still rumpled on her side, and he sees her sleeping form in his mind's eye, a memory from only twenty-four hours ago. He is determined to see her there again. Tomorrow, if he can manage it.

Jenny appears at the doorway, bundled up in a hat, scarf, mittens, boots, and big coat. Her backpack is stuffed full and sits awkwardly on her shoulders. "I'm ready to go, Daddy."

He nods. "Good. Let's go save Rose."

* * *

><p>Rose doesn't move as she wakes up. She feigns continued sleep, trying to figure out where she is. She's not at home; whatever she's laying on is rigid and uncomfortable. She can feel a bit of a vibration, and guesses that she might be on a ship of some kind. Probably not a sea ship, since there's no rocking motion. She takes a deep breath through her nose; it smells fairly normal wherever she is. It's also quiet here, wherever <em>here<em> is. Based on what she can tell, and the pounding in her head, she figures she's been transported onto an alien ship. Beyond that, she's clueless.

"Father, she's awake." The voice that speaks is calm and male, and sounds quite human. He must be either speaking English or wearing a translating device, because Rose remembers she doesn't have the TARDIS to translate for her any more.

"Prepare her for the first phase," answers a deep voice so cold Rose shivers a little. This one sounds older than the first.

"Wake up," says the first.

Rose opens her eyes, blinking sleepily. The alien before her appears to be little more than a human with dyed skin, but she knows better than to trust appearances.

"Sit up," he commands.

She sits up, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Give me your hands."

She holds out her hands. She hadn't realised she was handcuffed until now. She is a prisoner.

The alien unlocks the chain connecting her manacles, but he doesn't remove the manacles. A small hovering platform enters the room by itself. "Sit on the tablet."

Rose frowns, but gets up and sits on the tablet. The alien attaches her manacles to short chains on its sides. The chains are too short for her to stand on the hovering seat. "What's all this about?"

"The tablet will take you to a dressing room. You will dress in what you are given."

"But I'm already wearing—"

"You will not argue."

"You're not a Jedi; I'm not falling for your mind tricks."

"You will follow instructions or be disciplined."

The tablet rises so her feet cannot touch the ground and moves slowly but steadily out of the small cell and into a long hallway. It turns into another small cell, this one with a dress laid out. The door shuts and locks behind her and the chains disconnect from her manacles. She stands and walks to the dress. It's an elegant, floor-length gown in black with some sort of glitter or beading creating little galaxies down the length of the garment. It's beautiful, but she's not sure she wants to put it on. She turns back toward the tablet. "I'm not wearing that."

"You will dress in what you are given," comes the calm alien voice.

"You haven't told me why."

"You will dress in what you are given."

"Not if you don't tell me why."

"You will not argue."

She arches an eyebrow. "I'm arguing."

"You will follow instructions or be disciplined."

"I'm not wearing the dress unless you tell me why."

The door opens to let her alien captor in. "You will follow instructions or be disciplined," he repeats.

"I'm not wearing the dress. I want some answers."

"Disobedience must be disciplined." He steps toward her.

She takes half a step backward. "I'll wear the stupid dress. Just give me some answers."

"You may ask three questions."

Oh, the old tricks. Torchwood has trained Rose for this, to think before speaking and to get as much information as possible without asking questions. But there's one question she absolutely must ask first. "Where am I?"

"You are in London, in the United Kingdom of Britain, Wales, and Scotland, on the planet Earth. You may ask two further questions."

Rose folds her arms over her chest. "I'm not in London. I'm on a space ship _above_ London, maybe, but I'm not _in_ London."

"You are in London. You may ask two further questions."

"Whatever." Rose thinks for a minute about her second question. "What am I supposed to call you?"

"I am not required to answer. You may ask one further question."

"You said I get three questions, and that's one of them. So I'm entitled to an answer or another question."

"I am not required to answer. You may ask one further question."

"Rubbish! I'm not asking another question until you answer mine."

"We do not require your questions."

Rose glares at the alien. "You must be some kind of brainwashed, talking like that."

"You will follow instructions or be disciplined."

"I'll wear the dress if you tell me what it's for."

"We must prepare you for the first phase."

Rose rolls her eyes. "Right. I'm a prisoner. Should have known there's a master plan for all this. Probably too much to hope you're going to tell me what this master plan is."

"You will be informed when you are prepared."

"I'm prepared. Inform me."

"You are not prepared."

Rose is eerily reminded of Reinette's clockwork robots. "I'm as prepared as I'll ever be."

"You will follow instructions or be disciplined."

"I'm not wearing the dress till I know why."

"You will follow instructions or be disciplined." The alien turns and walks out the door again.

"I'm not putting on that dress until I know why!" Rose calls after him.

His voice comes over the speakers hidden in the room. "You will follow instructions or be disciplined. This is your final warning."

Rose taps her foot impatiently. "I'm not wearing the dress until I know what it's for." She starts to feel a little like a broken record.

"You will be disciplined," comes the voice. She feels the manacles on her wrists tugging upward and toward the opposite walls, forcing her to stand very straight and spin around. Two wires drop from the ceiling and drape themselves over the manacles. Rose wonders if they're supposed to bind to the manacles or if they're meant for some other purpose. She watches as the wires go red-hot, heating her manacles with painful efficiency. She feels her wrists burn and bites her lip to keep from making a sound. The metal touching the wires is starting to turn a dull red when a jolt of low-voltage electricity zaps her. The wires cool almost immediately and retract into the ceiling, but the manacles stay hot for a few minutes afterward, and Rose has to hold them away from her body to keep them from burning her uniform. "You will follow instructions or be disciplined," the alien voice repeats.

Rose looks at her wrists, angry red underneath the shackles, then at the dress laid out on the short table. She knows she's got to choose one or the other, the frying pan or the fire, an indefinite torture session or a possible death. But the Doctor is coming, and the more time she can give him, the better. "I'm not wearing the dress."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** So I failed on the chapter-a-day, but it's the holidays. Also, the next update won't be for quite a few days, as I'm having my mouth excavated in the morning (third molar extraction—yay) and will not be in a condition to write._

_Still looking for title suggestions. Many cookies and hugs and bowls of potato soup to my beta._


	5. Chapter 4: Starlight

**26 December**

_**starlight**_

The doorbell rings. Jackie prods Pete's arm. "Go answer the door, love," she says groggily.

"Probably some kids having a joke. Go back to sleep," he replies equally tiredly.

The doorbell rings again. Pete groans. "Stupid kids," he mumbles.

The doorbell rings more insistently. "Go see who it is," Jackie tells him, the words barely decipherable under her sleepiness.

Pete drags himself out of bed, throwing on a dressing gown. He goes into the foyer, checking the time on the grandfather clock: it's four thirty in the morning. He unlocks the door, looking through the glass, and is shocked to see the Doctor standing on the front porch. Jenny is half asleep, holding on to his leg.

Pete yanks the door open and blurts out, "Doctor," as the Doctor says, "It's Rose."

Pete blinks. "Rose?"

"Rose hasn't come home yet and I'm going to find her, but I can't take Jenny with me."

"I'll put her in bed," Pete promises. "You're sure Rose is missing? You're sure she didn't just crash at her office?"

"I called Jake. She's not there."

"She had a field call. Maybe she's in the Arsenal?"

The Doctor looks down at the sleepy little girl holding on to his calf. "There was no field call," the Doctor says quietly.

"Why would Rose—"

"Rose didn't lie," the Doctor says firmly. "The Tower never sent a field call, but that doesn't mean she didn't get one. Someone else out there is trying to get to her, and given the circumstances, I'd say they already have her."

Pete nods. "No point hangin' about, then." He crouches down to Jenny's level. "Hey. Ready for bed?"

Jenny holds out both arms to Pete, who smiles and picks her up, carrying her against his chest.

"Keep us posted," Pete requests.

"Of course." The Doctor nods and tugs on his black beret. Jenny reaches a sleepy hand to him, and he takes it, squeezing gently. Pete takes the drowsy girl inside and the Doctor returns to his car. He puts in his earpiece as he slides into the seat. "Okay, Jake. What have you got?"

* * *

><p>"You will follow instructions or be disciplined."<p>

Rose breathes heavily. A cut on her right wrist cries a river of blood toward her elbow, but Rose herself gives her captors no such satisfaction. The sleeves of her uniform are pushed up above the elbows to accommodate the rising heat in the room. Sweat dampens her hair, and she would like very little more than to lie down and sleep.

"I'm not—wearing—the dress," she pants. She has no idea how long it's been since she first refused, but she feels herself flagging with every shock, every burn, every minute she spends in 'discipline'. She learned quickly that the wires that drop from the ceiling are quite versatile. The wires not only have the power to burn, they can electrocute, freeze, numb, and cause hallucinations. The psychic tricks are the worst. All her darkest nightmares, playing out as if they're real; her life, ruined over and over in her mind, and she can't get away from it.

This time, it's just the numbness. Rose is fairly sure it's some kind of mild neurotoxin. It spreads from her aching wrists to her fingers, then up her arms until it reaches her shoulders. It does not spread further, and Rose thinks it must be to keep her heart beating, to keep her alive. But then it recedes, leaving fire in its wake. Rose wonders if this is what it feels like to hug a star.

No, she tells herself. She knows what it's like to hug a star. She does it every day. She smiles despite the pain. He's coming for her. And when he does, her captors better run like hell.

"No one is coming," comes the cold alien voice. Rose wonders if she's been speaking aloud or if her captors are starting to get in her head.

"He is, though. You've never even heard of him here. The Doctor, I mean. My Doctor. He's going to find me—find _you_—and you'll wish you'd never captured me."

"No one is coming." The voice over the speakers is so confident, so calculated.

Rose laughs.

* * *

><p>Jake points to the radar. "There's nothing up there that isn't registered," he says. The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and Jake groans. "Not that thing again."<p>

"Rose is in danger."

"There's nothing out there."

"There's always something out there."

"We've registered everything that's out there."

"Fine. I want the list."

"What?"

"The registry list or whatever you lot call it."

"That's—"

"Anything that's come within five thousand miles in the last twenty-four hours."

"But—"

"And I want an alert if anything new shows up."

"Doctor!"

"What?"

"This isn't like your world. Our list is… complicated."

"Complicated? How complicated can it be?"

"We've got integrated extraterrestrials, for starters. Just a few, but they're around. Most of them are close enough to human that blending in's not really a problem. And the tourists are always coming and going; we get itineraries as much as six months in advance."

"You're telling me that Torchwood is hiding the presence of potentially hundreds of aliens on the planet, and any one of them could have kidnapped Rose?"

Jake looks nervous. "Thousands, actually. Most days."

The Doctor drops into a chair. "How are we supposed to screen all that activity?"

"We're not. We've got dozens of filters running in the system to throw up red flags, but most of it's pretty quiet. You think ELID's got a lot of work with aliens, you really ought to talk to the guys down in Tourism. Half a dozen agents processing all the incoming itineraries, approving, denying, contacting. It's bloody insane down there."

"Okay, fine. There's got to be another way to track Rose down. Her mobile and the car both place her at home, but they're not there. How fine-tuned is that GPS?"

"It's accurate to within two hundred yards or so. Why?"

The Doctor shakes his head. "There's something I'm missing. If someone tampered with the GPS, why would they put her at home? It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe she _was_ at home. I mean, she could have parked on the street."

The Doctor shakes his head. "Jenny thought so, too. We looked before we left."

"_Maybe Rose parked on the sidewalk," Jenny offered. "We should look before we leave."_

"_Okay, we'll look." The Doctor held Jenny's hand as they looked up and down the street, but they saw no sign of Rose's car. "I don't think she's here," he said._

_Jenny was staring up into the sky. "Daddy, where's all the stars and the moon?" she asked._

"_We don't usually see the stars from here. We're too close to all the city lights." He peered up into the sky. "It's too cloudy to see the moon tonight," he told her._

_Jenny seemed uneasy, but the Doctor attributed it to exhaustion. He swung her up in his arms and carried her to his car. She nearly fell asleep twice on the way to the Tylers'._

The Doctor frowns. "Two hundred yards? That's far enough away for her to have parked round the corner." He picks up his earpiece and his jacket. "I'm going to have a look, see if I can dig something up. I'll be back in an hour or so."

Jake nods. "I'll keep looking around here, see if anything suspicious has been going on."

The Doctor turns his earpiece on and, with one last accusing glare at the monitors, heads out of the Tower.

Rose's car is parked just around the corner from the house, but it's empty. He tugs out his mini-torchlight and shines it inside. The car is locked and empty, but the keys are still in and the light on the GPS module is pulsing slowly. He hasn't got a spare set of keys, so he uses his screwdriver. He leans across the driver seat to look for Rose's mobile when the car disappears. He falls face first onto the ground, his human reflexes too slow to catch him before he hits his head. He's pretty sure the sudden darkness is not the result of a faulty street light, but he is unconscious before he can come up with its true origin.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** Happy New Year! _


	6. Chapter 5: Snakes and Chains

**26 December**

_**snakes and chains**_

The Doctor doesn't move as he wakes up; the pulsing pain in his forehead is doing a great job of keeping him still. He listens for any sign of what's happened. It doesn't sound like suburban London, and it's too warm for him to still be outdoors. He thinks maybe someone found him on the pavement and took him inside, but then he hears the steady hum of an engine. Apparently, someone _did_ find him, but they didn't take him inside any house in London. He runs a sort of internal self-surveillance, trying to assess his physical condition without giving away his awareness in case whoever found him is less than friendly.

Nothing seems to be terribly wrong, and he's about to try shifting a bit to get a better idea of his condition when he hears footsteps. They're coming from the direction he's facing—he assumes that's the door—and they stop in front of him.

"Wake him," commands an icy voice that reminds the Doctor of the Editor from Satellite Five. The Doctor hears the rattle of keys and the clang of a metal lock, and then a pair of hands drags him to his feet, giving him the movement he needs to complete his internal self-assessment. He's not seriously injured, apart from the headache, but he is dismayed to learn that his hands are bound behind him with metal cuffs. A hand forces his chin up and he opens his eyes. A pair of cold blue irises, luminescent in the dim light, stares back at him from a pale, scaly face. The cold hand at his chin is at odds with the ambient heat. His alien captor makes a disgusted face and walks away, waving a hand down the hallway. "Take him to the bridge. Silas is waiting."

The hands holding the Doctor's arms shove him forward, forcing him out of the dark cell and toward a tough-looking metal door. The light on the other side nearly blinds him as the door slides open; he ducks his head and blinks rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes to the harsh lighting. His escort unlocks the heavy chain connecting the shackles together. He doesn't recover from the surprise and confusion before thinner—but equally strong—chains link his wrists to a sort of hovering seat. He's shoved roughly into the seat and it takes off on its own, lifting him too far into the air for his feet to reach the ground.

Doors open in front of him and close behind him. It's a rather long journey to the bridge, made longer by his hover-seat's sluggish pace, and he takes the time to fully assess his situation. He's a prisoner on a ship run by humanoid reptilians. Rose is probably on the ship as well, but there's no telling where she might be. He's not entirely sure how long he was unconscious: his impeccable internal sense of time was a bit damaged by the unkind transfer onto the ship, and he doesn't have any other chronologic device, since everything but his shirt and pants were taken while he was out.

It's not difficult to tell when he arrives at his destination. He enters the circular room near the bottom and the seat spirals up to a raised platform in the middle. The platform is surrounded by tall metal poles and holds a six-sided control panel, at which another one of the reptilians is working, turning dials and adjusting sliders. The reptilian looks up when the Doctor's seat stops between two of the metal poles.

"I was wondering when Devon was going to send you down here," he says, a wicked grin spreading across his face. The Doctor guesses this must be Silas; the elaborate _S_ embroidered on his captor's leather vest seems to confirm it. Silas continues to work at the control panel as the chains unlatch from the hover-seat. The Doctor is prepared this time and moves away from the metal poles and the seat, but he is too slow and the manacles tug at his wrists, dragging him back to the metal poles. His wrists are suspended in midair by the force of the magnets, and he wonders how he's not pulled apart.

"It's a perfect system, isn't it? Every set of shackles is perfectly tuned to its sister posts. I can turn up the attractive force as high as I please—" Silas twists a dial and the shackles pull at the Doctor's wrists, lifting him off the ground and threatening to pull his shoulders out of joint "—without affecting anything else." He turns the dial back, dropping the Doctor to the ground. "I can force you to stand on tiptoe, hang you in midair, or, if I'm feeling especially kind, let you sit on your knees and beg for mercy."

The Doctor glares at Silas. "I don't beg," he says fiercely.

Silas gives the Doctor a wicked grin that could freeze a sun as a pair of wires drop from overhead.

* * *

><p>Rose fights the hallucinations. No matter how many times she tells herself they're not real, the visions terrify her. She prefers the slow torture of microvolt electrocution to this hell, but her captors give her no such relief. She watches her most horrifying nightmares play out in front of her, and even closing her eyes doesn't block them out.<p>

She has lost all sense of time in her personal purgatory. She only knows it's been so long her knees have given out and when she is allowed to rest, she has no strength to even lift her head. Her arms and hands are stained with blood from her wrists, and her shirt is soaked with her sweat. She has endured so many rounds of numbness, hallucination, and microelectrocution that she fights only to stay awake now, to give her Doctor as much time as she can.

"He's coming," she mumbles.

"No one is coming," reply the walls.

She tries to say it again, but she's not sure the words make it out. Her forehead touches the floor, and it feels so nice to be curled up in a ball, even though her arms are still strung up above her, that she considers just taking a short nap before the next round of hell.

She is unconscious before she can change her mind.

* * *

><p>The Doctor doesn't flinch as a microvolt hum runs through his body, making his bones ache and his skin crawl. He measures three minutes—three incredibly long minutes—before the torture ends and he is left with a weakened body and a reinforced will. Silas has been boasting about his "lovely prisoner" he's sent Devon to retrieve. The Doctor is sure it's Rose from Silas' descriptions, and he will not watch Silas torment her.<p>

A door off the platform opens to admit a burly reptilian and a girl dressed in an black evening gown made of satin and covered in star formations. Her blond hair has been done up, but her head hangs forward and her body sags limply. Her wrists are freshly bandaged beneath her cuffs, and he almost can't believe this is Rose, _his_ Rose. But she's too beautiful, even as battered as she is, to be anyone else. His blood boils at what they've done to her, and it's not his human anger—it's his old Time Lord rage.

Silas leaves the control panel as Rose's escort carries her to a set of posts across the platform from the Doctor. The Doctor can't see Silas' face, but he doesn't like the way the snake is inspecting her gown. "She finally agreed, then?" he asks.

An answer from the still-open door brings the Doctor's attention to the one who woke him earlier. "You asked me to break her, brother. That's what I did." The reptilian's elaborate _D_ embroidered on his vest confirms he's Devon.

"And the other one?"

Devon is far from looking sheepish, but the Doctor can see _oops_ like a neon sign hanging in the air above Devon's head. "We had to… recapture it."

"Double its protection."

"It is strong, brother, and clever. We can confirm it has not left the ship, but it evades even our scanners. It may have an innate ability to translocate itself over short distances."

"Well, find it and immobilise it! I will not have some unknown thing running about my ship!"

Devon bows and strides out of the room. The Doctor wonders what sort of creature they've lost, but his attention is recaptured by Rose, who is now strung up like he is. He knows that if he were still fully Time Lord, he'd be able to see the faint rise and fall of her breathing, know for certain she's still alive, but he doesn't. He can only take the implicit word of a bunch of aliens he can't identify until he has other proof.

But Silas will give him no such satisfaction. The lights in the room dim, almost as if this has all been a rehearsal and the real show is about to start. It's too dark for the Doctor to see Rose clearly, and his eyes are much, much better than hers. He's pretty sure that even if she is awake, she'll never see him.

"Let's see how well our lovers fare together."

The Doctor hears Rose stir and mumble something. He waits for the electric hum or the scorching heat or the burn of the ice, or the wretched numbness, but nothing comes to him. He wonders what game Silas is playing at. The manacles around the Doctor's wrists are so low he can sit down with his hands at ear-height, and he hasn't been so much as looked at since Rose came in. It's as if Silas has forgotten him.

Half a minute of confusion and doubt goes by before the Doctor realises that Silas has not forgotten, that Silas knows exactly what kind of hell will break his prisoner. Light shines on the Doctor from overhead, and though it doesn't allow him to see any further, he knows it will allow Rose to see him chained and useless. _Let's see how well our lovers fare together_.

* * *

><p>Tony Tyler knows he is the luckiest boy in the whole wide world. His daddy works a lot, but not too much, his mummy takes very good care of him, his big sister fights bad guys, and he has the bestest best friend in the whole wide world. Her name is Jenny Smith and she used to be a grownup or something.<p>

The best part is that sometimes his best friend comes and stays over because her daddy is fighting bad guys with Tony's big sister. Tony's mum lets them build forts—Jenny builds the best forts—and camp out under the glow-in-the-dark stars in the play room. Jenny tells really good stories until they fall asleep, and then in the morning, there is always breakfast.

But today is just weird. Tony is awake, even though the clock only says five and he usually doesn't wake up until it says seven. He counts on his fingers to make extra sure five is before seven. The cot in the play room that Jenny always sleeps on is out, and Jenny is sleeping on it. Tony knows she usually gets up really, really early, even before Tony's daddy does, so he thinks maybe his clock is wrong. He goes to his parents' room, but their clock says the same thing.

"Hey," Tony's daddy says quietly. Tony's mummy is still sleeping.

"Daddy, why is Jenny here?"

"Dr. Smith had to go fight bad guys again."

"Rose too?"

Tony's daddy nods. "Rose too."

Tony's mummy snores a little and Tony waits a few seconds before he asks, "Is the clock wrong?"

Tony's daddy looks at the alarm on the bedside table. "I don't think so."

"Why is Jenny still sleeping?"

"She stayed up late. Why aren't you sleeping?"

Tony shrugs and walks back to his room. His daddy will go back to sleep until it's time to get up, just like always, so Tony plays quietly in his room until the clock beeps. Tony walks downstairs, where Lucy the housekeeper has a morning snack waiting for him so he doesn't get too hungry before his mum comes down and makes breakfast for him and Jenny.

Usually, Jenny is already downstairs talking to Lucy when Tony wakes up, but this morning, Lucy is alone. She tells Tony that she didn't even know Jenny stayed over. Tony thinks maybe Jenny went for a walk in the backyard like she does sometimes. Tony's mummy and daddy come downstairs and Tony's mum starts on breakfast.

"Where's Jenny?" asks Tony's dad.

"She's still sleeping, I think," Tony says.

Tony's dad frowns. "Are you sure she's not hiding somewhere, waiting to jump out at me?"

Tony looks at his daddy. "Isn't she still sleeping?" Tony doesn't walk past the play room in the morning—his bedroom is closest to the stairs—but Tony's parents do.

"Lucy, did Jenny come down this morning?"

Lucy stops chopping peppers and shakes her head. "I didn't know she was here until the little master told me."

Tony's mum, who has been busy fixing the coffee, looks up. Tony thinks Jenny _must_ have gone for a walk, but he isn't going to tell the secret to the grownups. Jenny will come back soon anyway. She'll come down the stairs or into the kitchen from the downstairs bathroom or out of the fireplace, just like she always does. Tony thinks Jenny must be a secret spy because she can get in and out of the house a zillion different ways without setting off the alarm.

Tony eats his breakfast by himself at the counter. He eats as slow as he can, and he refuses to move from the table after he's done. He's waiting for Jenny, and he'll wait all day if he has to do.


	7. Chapter 6: The Golden Gate

**27 December**

_**the golden gate**_

A microvolt shock is not a pleasant wake-up, but it's effective. Rose fights against her manacles and the black void of sleep that her body so desperately wants to go back to.

"Look at me," comes the cold alien voice she's been tormented with for the last aeon of her life. "I want to see your eyes."

Rose struggles to open her eyes and finds that the room she's in is much larger than the one she was in before. The lights are dimmed so that all Rose is able to see is the six-sided control panel in the centre of the room, and the pale reptilian figure moving around it like a snake waiting to strike. She thinks she can hear something across the room, but she's pretty sure it's machinery.

The snake in the middle of the room—who, fittingly, has an _S_ embroidered on his leather vest—grins wickedly and touches some of the controls on the panel. A light comes on gradually across the platform. A pair of metal posts are visible first, then the crumpled figure of a man. He is dressed in solid black, and though his head is bowed and she can't see his face, the hair is unmistakable. She can hear him breathing heavily; his hands are clenched into fists, and she knows he's being tortured.

But he's not, she reminds herself. This is only another hallucination. Her Doctor is coming to rescue her. She tears her eyes from the vision and glares at her captor.

_No one is coming_, comes the alien's voice in her mind.

"He _is_ coming!" Rose snaps. The vision across the platform lifts his head and she sees the look of torture on his face. "He'll be here," she insists feebly.

The reptile grins. "Haven't you noticed? He's already here."

"Rose," comes the Doctor's voice. The Doctor, the imagined one chained up across from her, is speaking, pleading with her. "Don't listen to him. I'm going to save you."

"Oh, shut up," interrupts the alien. "You can't save her any more than you can save yourself." He touches a few controls on the panel. He doesn't appear to be adjusting them at all, but the prisoner across the platform tenses up.

"It's just a hallucination," Rose breathes. "You can't fool me. My Doctor's going to save me," she says. "He always saves me."

Her captor whirls, closing the gap between himself and his prisoner in almost no time at all. "Your hero is my prisoner," he growls. "And so are you." He is back at his control panels in the blink of an eye, and Rose feels her body go numb with the neurotoxin.

* * *

><p>The Doctor still can't see Rose, but from her silence, he guesses she's unconscious again. "Let her go," he says.<p>

"Excuse me?" Silas replies, looking up from his control panel.

"Let her go."

"Are you pleading with me?" Silas asks smugly.

"I'm not pleading with you. I'm telling you to let her go."

"Or what? What are you going to do to me? You're a pathetic little ape just like she is."

"What's the point of keeping us here if we're just stupid apes, then?"

"You're asking for my master plan?" Silas chuckles. "She's going to open the gate for me."

"The gate? What gate?"

"I have spent years perfecting my new machine, one that will harness the most powerful source of energy in the universe." He walks toward Rose, disappearing into the shadows. His voice travels back toward the Doctor, triumphant and gloating. "And your precious human friend here has the power to open the gate."

"What gate?" the Doctor repeats.

Silas doesn't answer at first, and the Doctor wonders what he's doing. Finally, Silas' voice comes out of the dark, cold and triumphant. "The gate into the Vortex."

The Doctor struggles against his manacles, rage clouding his vision, but the force on the cuffs is too strong for him to get anywhere. "You can't! You'll kill her!"

"I don't need her after she's opened the gate." The Doctor can hear the shrug in Silas' cavalier tone. "Now, hush up, you." Silas slithers out of the shadows long enough to fiddle a few dials on the control panel and then slink back to Rose.

As the numbing agent takes hold of the Doctor's motor functions and most of his sensory systems, the light above Rose grows stronger until he can see her even through the haze of the toxin. Silas has his hands around her upper arms and his forehead pressed to hers: the hallmarks of a telepathic invasion.

The Doctor's head falls as his body finally goes completely limp, but his time-sense—weak though it is in this tortured, numbed human body—shrieks at the very wrong presence of the Time Vortex. He can feel it in the room all around him, and he knows it could destroy all of London if it's not controlled properly. He hears Silas let out a victory shout, but it's cut short. The energy from the Vortex begins to take shape, form into controlled patterns, and the Doctor thinks maybe Silas' machine really was designed perfectly, but then he notices that his wrists are no longer bound, and his body is no longer numb, and all of these patterns he can sense in the Vortex energy bear an unmistakable mark.

He lifts his head and she's there, wreathed in gold and shining like the sun. Silas lies dead next to her, his life snuffed out by the Bad Wolf's power. She is no longer cuffed, and her evening gown shines like a real galaxy, shifting and moving as she approaches the control console in the centre of the room.

"Rose, please, let it go!"

The Bad Wolf turns her gaze on him. "I can see the whole of time and space. I can see everything. How can I let go of this?"

"I can't lose you; not like this. Just let it go."

It's exactly like the Game Station. Her eyes return to their original, beautiful brown and she whispers, "I can't."

"You can do it."

"Help me."

The Doctor takes a step toward her, but he's thrown back by a small but high-velocity impact. "What—"

"Daddy! No!" Jenny's little fist thumps him on the leg. "_You're_ a human. _I'm_ not." She turns to Rose, who is still looking to the Doctor to save her, and tugs on Rose's dress. "I can help you."

Rose just looks at Jenny, confused. Jenny crouches down, then springs up like a tiny frog, climbing up into Rose's arms as if Rose is nothing more than a set of monkey bars. Jenny pulls Rose's forehead to her own and, in an imitation of Silas' telepathic invasion, reverses the flow of energy, forcing it back into the Vortex.

The Doctor shouts Jenny's name, but she ignores him. He knows what this will do to her. He's not sure he wants to lose the Jenny he knows, but she's got to do this. They'd both be lost without Rose.

Rose faints, and Jenny leaps out of her arms to land safely on the floor next to Rose and the Doctor, who deftly catches Rose and lays her out on the floor. He turns to Jenny; she's sitting with her knees to her chest, resting her forehead on her knees.

"Jenny..."

"I'm fine," she mumbles.

The Doctor kneels next to the little girl and puts a hand on her head. He knows she's not; he's been in her place before. He still remembers just how badly it burned, dying that way. "You absorbed the Time Vortex, Jenny. No one's meant to do that."

She turns her face toward him, and he can see the gold in her eyes overtaking the green. "I know."

He wants to comfort her, but he knows from experience that there's no comfort for a dying Time Lord, not when she's dying this way. "You know what you have to do."

"I can do it." Her jaw tenses, and she says through her teeth, "I love you, Daddy."

The Doctor kisses his fingers and presses them to her temple, wishing he could do more for her. "I love you, too." He backs away as Jenny gets to her feet and stumbles a few steps away. He can see the glow of her regeneration cycle beginning on her hands. "Go for it," he tells her.

The light is so bright he's forced to look away, and when he turns back, a taller, thinner girl is standing in her place, wearing her pyjamas. This new girl, though, has Rose's smile and the Doctor's chin and dimples. Her face is dotted with freckles and topped with a messy mop of very bright orange hair.

Her green eyes glitter with gold traces of the regeneration energy. "Hello, Daddy."

* * *

><p>She doesn't feel like Jenny any more. Jenny was smaller. Jenny was sweet and blond and perfect and never, ever had a temper. But she's different now. She's still Genevieve Marion Smith, just like it says on the birth certificate her daddy has locked away in his study, but she doesn't feel like Jenny. She looks at her father and says 'hello' before she even realises what she's doing.<p>

There was something she was supposed to do. Something needs doing, but she can't remember what it was. She looks around the room. Big platform, nice control panel, Rose lying on the floor, some metal poles—Rose lying on the floor! She'd just saved Rose's life. They're on a space ship, and they need to get off.

"The beam!" she says, and the Doctor looks at her curiously. "We have to get off the ship. The captain is dead; it's gonna leave soon."

"But I can't rig anything up to use the beam. I don't have the equipment and I doubt I have the time it'll take to do anything without the screwdriver."

The screwdriver? Oh, the sonic screwdriver. The blue thing that makes the noises. It was so shiny, laying there on top of all that other dirty stuff. She'd just grabbed it because she thought maybe it might help. That and it was pretty. Where did she put it? She pulls the screwdriver out of the waistband of her pyjamas. "This screwdriver?" she asks.

"How did you—never mind. We need to get out of here. Where's the nearest control panel for the transmat beam?"

She looks around. "Um…" Where was that thing? One of the aliens used it to bring her here. She remembers, because they almost got the handcuffs on her, but she got away before they could lock her up. Those nasty aliens. But where— "Over there. I think it's still on."

Her daddy picks up Rose, who's sleeping _again_—such a human—and he follows Jenny to the little stand. He points the sonic screwdriver at it and there's a sort of blue glow all over, then the ship lurches and everything goes black.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** One chapter to go! I hope you've all enjoyed the journey so far. There will be more stories in this series (I've planned for two before I take a break to work on my original fiction), but in the meanwhile, I encourage you all to browse my favourites—there are some really great stories and authors in there!_

_Many thanks to my beta and editor, EnoughToTemptMe, for being a ninja and springing a surprise earlier-than-scheduled beta session on me._


	8. Chapter 7: As the Light Fades

**27 December**

_**as the light fades**_

When he comes to, he expects to be somewhere unpleasant. The middle of a field, if he's lucky. A back alley, if he's not. He does not expect to be in the guest room at the Tyler estate, tucked up in bed like a sick child. He coughs once, realising that his throat is as dry as the barren moons of Jupiter. He's dressed in pyjamas and there's a tray on the bedside table which holds a bowl of water and a rag. This is definitely _not_ what it should feel like after a transmat jump, even if the transfer was less than satisfactory.

Jackie walks in as he swings his legs off the side of the bed and sits up a little too fast. He sways dangerously and his vision blurs. Jackie catches his shoulder and guides him back down to the pillows. He blinks away the salt-and-pepper blindness as she asks how he feels.

He rubs his forehead. "Like I've been trampled on and left out in a wind storm," he answers honestly. "Where's Rose?"

Jackie ignores his question and goes back to the tray she's just brought in. "The gardener found you two passed out in the meadow behind the trees this morning. You're lucky he was pruning trees today, or you might've been a lot worse."

"Jackie, where's Rose?" he repeats, giving her his most terrifying Time Lord glare.

"Sleeping," Jackie answers, turning away so he can't see her face.

"I want to see her," he demands with all the tone and grace of a petulant child.

"You can't even sit up straight," Jackie tells him. "You both need to rest."

When she brings the tray to him, he sees in her face the avoidance that tells him something's going on and she's been told not to say anything to him. "How long before you can tell me?" he asks quietly.

She situates him so he's propped up and can eat the soup and tea and sets the tray on the bed over his legs. "What d'you mean?"

"Tonight? Tomorrow? Next week? How long do I have to wait until someone will tell me what's really going on with Rose? Or am I going to have to find out for myself?"

Jackie shakes her head. "It's up to Dr. Montgomery," she replies. "Doctor's orders."

"_I'm_ the Doctor," he tells her.

"But you're not the physician. Eat your soup."

"What about Jenny?"

"Jenny?" she asks. She looks anywhere but the Doctor.

"Isn't she here?"

"Yes." Her voice carries a hint of indignance, as if she's appalled that he would think otherwise. "She's playing with Tony."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine."

Jackie is a terrible liar, but that's not what really gives her away. Jenny absorbed the Time Vortex and when the Doctor had done it, he'd ended up terribly sick. "Really?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't she be?"

"Will you tell her I'd like to see her?"

Jackie hesitates and tries to cover the pause with a wave of her hand. "She'll come in eventually."

Knowing Jackie won't cave to his interrogation any time soon, he gives her his thanks and goes back to his soup.

"I want that soup gone when I come back. I've got to go check up on that little redhead girl you rescued."

The Doctor splutters into the soup in question, choking on a soft bit of vegetable. "Little—redhead girl?"

Jackie stops. "You mean to tell me you don't know who you rescued?"

He coughs a few times. "I didn't rescue her. She rescued _me_. And Rose. Remarkable little girl. I'm not surprised you didn't recognise her, though."

"What are you yammering on about now?"

"Give her some good, strong black tea, and when she wakes up, tell her I want to see her."

"Who?"

"The little redhead girl. Jenny."

She blinks. "What?"

"The little girl, she's Jenny. She just looks different, that's all."

"What, you mean she can change her face, too?"

He shrugs. "She's a Time Lord. She's got all the tricks."

Jackie is about to say something else when Dr. Montgomery knocks on the door frame. "Sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Tyler, but I need to speak to you."

"Dr. Montgomery," the Doctor says. "How is Rose?"

Montgomery doesn't answer him.

He glowers as Jackie steps outside and closes the door. He tries to listen, but they're whispering and the door is shut. Half a minute later, the door opens and he's surprised to see Montgomery return without Jackie.

"Natalia," he begs. "What happened to Rose?"

"I need to ask you a few questions first."

"Rose," he repeats.

Montgomery shakes her head. "I need to know what happened while you were gone."

"It's out of your league," he says. "Just let me see Rose."

"She's resting."

"Just let me go see her."

"Tell me what happened."

"We were on a space ship and we tried to use their teleport system to get out before the ship left. The transfer must have knocked us both out."

"Both? What about the girl?"

"The redhead? You know who she is."

"She's an alien; I know that much. She's got two hearts."

"Who else do you know with two hearts, Natalia?"

"But Jenny looks _completely_ different."

"No, Jenny _looked_ completely different. She's a Time Lord. She saved my life and Rose's life, and paid for it with her own. Lucky for her, she can regenerate. Whole new body."

"Unbelievable."

"True, though." A short silence follows as Montgomery processes what she's just heard. The Doctor ends it with, "Tell me about Rose."

"She's resting."

The Doctor sneezes. "I save London and I get a bloody cold for my troubles. Great reward." He sits up away from the pillows and moves the tray off his legs. "I'm going to see Rose." He gets up, pretending he isn't dizzy and lightheaded, and walks down the hall to Rose's room, trailed by Montgomery. She's awake, but she looks a sight. Jackie's wiping Rose's fevered forehead with a damp rag, and Rose looks confused.

The Doctor sits on the edge of her bed, ignoring Jackie and Montgomery. He takes her hand. She looks at it like it's foreign and weird. "How are you feeling?" he asks.

She looks at him and her expression doesn't change much. She turns away and coughs, and he can hear her shallow, raspy breathing afterward. "'M okay," she tells him, though she's clearly lying.

"You were brilliant, you know. You always are."

"Was I?" she asks. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

Rose shakes her head just enough to avoid having to use words.

"Maybe I'll tell you later," he says. "Dr. Montgomery's right. You should rest."

Rose nods. "Okay."

"I'll come back later." He moves toward her to kiss her forehead, but she shies away from him. She looks at him strangely, and he sees it in her eyes. As he stands to leave, he hopes he's mistaken, hopes the dull blankness in her gaze is just a trick of the light.

When he reaches the door, she calls hoarsely, "Wait."

He turns back to her. "Yes?"

She smiles apologetically. "I don't know your name."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** So... I know I said one more chapter in my last Author's Notes, but I sort of fibbed a little. There's going to be an epilogue. A short one._

_Many thanks to my luvverly beta, EnoughToTemptMe, for slogging through edits (this is probably the most-edited chapter in this entire story... I was not on it today). And to her roomies for their assistance in finding a title for this chapter._

_And Kyle: don't think you're going to get out of telling me your prediction!_


	9. Epilogue: Rift

**{[Epilogue]}**

**24 July**

_**rift**_

Once upon a time, the world spun steadily beneath Dr. John Smith's feet. He could feel it sometimes when he was with her, that girl who'd turned his life upside down so many times. He needed the world to spin when he was with her. He needed the earth to maintain its proper rotation, lest the force of gravity give up and let them drift away into the clouds.

But the earth stopped spinning six months ago when he looked into his lover's eyes and saw no light in them. He is the one moving now, instead of the earth—he and the little flame-haired child whose bouts of temper are frequent and unparalleled. Not a week has gone by that Jenny hasn't erupted into screams or dissolved into tears.

He teaches at a university three days a week; Jenny attends school while he teaches. Their off days and holidays are spent learning in a different way: she will choose a place on the great map in the study and they'll go by zeppelin. She learns cultures and languages. They meet people, eat food, see monuments, get terribly lost. He tells her stories of events that happened there, stories of the world from which he came. She soaks up the information like an imploded star; the gravity of everything they are running from requires a constant stream of information to keep her distracted.

Still, she asks. She asks what happened to her Rose, why her Rose and her daddy didn't get married like they'd said they would. He lies and tells her it was the sickness that took Rose's memory, but he knows she will not believe him for much longer. Whenever she asks, he hopes that she will believe the lie for a little longer, because the truth is difficult. Jenny saved Rose's life, but without proper training, she took more of Rose's memory than was necessary, leaving Rose with no recollection of the Bad Wolf, no recollection of most of her life, and certainly no recollection of them. He cannot bring himself to lay such a heavy burden on such small shoulders.

Today is Jenny's birthday. He isn't sure of her age—her unbelievable history would confuse even the most brilliant Time Lord minds—but he is sure that the twenty-fourth of July is her birthday. He has plans to take her to the book shop and let her roam as long as she pleases.

She has yet to come downstairs for breakfast, though it's nearly six in the morning. He hears the slap of the newspaper on the porch and goes to retrieve it. It has landed face-down and he doesn't see the article until he's in the kitchen again.

_VITEX HEIRESS TO MARRY YOUNG EXEC_

He drops the entire newspaper into the rubbish bin as Jenny finally comes into the kitchen and sits at the island counter, her expression melancholy. He serves breakfast and they eat in silence. She doesn't mention the missing newspaper, and he doesn't comment on her unusual reticence. When she is finished, she does not ask to be excused; she puts her dishes in the sink and goes upstairs. He washes the dishes and puts them back in the cupboard, then retreats to his study.

In the top drawer of his desk, beneath all the pens and pencils and stacks of post-its, there is journal bound in soft brown leather. Its pages are full of drawings and writing in the elegant script he alone can read: ideas and schematics for his new time machine. He is not interested in any of it. Taped to the inside of the back cover is a photograph of himself, Rose, and Jenny. He and Rose are walking hand in hand down the street, beaming like the lovers they were. Jenny sits on his shoulders, giggling, her arms around his forehead to keep her balanced. It is proof that the Rose he knew is not just a dream.

He hears the shuffling of small feet and reflexively snaps the book shut. Jenny looks tired and sad. He puts the book away in his desk and gestures for her to come to him. She climbs up in his lap, all skinny legs and knobbly knees, and snuggles up against his chest. He kisses her hair and wraps his arms loosely around her. She gives no pretence, no explanation for the silent sobs or the tears, but he knows: she misses Rose. Rose's absence has taken its toll on the little girl: some days bring explosive tantrums and others false smiles, but days like today bring only tears.

It is some time before she asks him if they can skip the book shop and go somewhere on their great map.

He does not deny her.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** Three and a half weeks later, my "chapter-a-day" story is finally finished... obviously, I failed in that regard, but it's okay. At least I finished writing it, right?_

_My beta deserves cookies and much tea for making sure these chapters have been satisfactory and not completely stupid._

_The Doctor, Jenny, and Rose will return in the next instalment of my Pete's World series, "Red and White"... stay tuned!_


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